10 years & 10 successes of the Birds and Renewable Energy Project

The Birds and Renewable Energy Project has a unique, birds-eye view of renewable energy developments in South Africa. We keep up to date with relevant research, the results of operational phase monitoring, and developments with international policies and guidelines. Drawing on the knowledge, we share our insights and advice with renewable energy developers, environmental consultants, government officials, researchers, and members of the public, so that they can make informed decisions about the environmental pros and cons of proposed infrastructure. Listen to what Sam Laurance, from EnviroInsight has to say about that below:

BirdLife South Africa and the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Best Practice Guidelines for assessing and monitoring the impacts of wind energy on birds in southern Africa were first published in 2011, with the last edition released in 2015. They were endorsed by the South African Wind Energy Association, CapeNature, IAIAsa and Eskom. National legislation now requires that these guidelines are considered when conducting impact assessments for wind energy in South Africa. This has helped raise the standard of impact assessments and protect biodiversity, whilst supporting the sustainable development of renewable energy.

We aim to influence all stages of development, from site screening to EIAs and the operations. By 2017 over 1700 applications for environmental authorizations (including amendments) for renewable energy infrastructure had been received by the Department of Environmental Affairs (now Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment). Recognizing that it was impossible to review and comment on this volume of applications, we developed guidelines on Cape Vulture, Verreaux’s Eagle and Black Harrier and wind energy, as well as guidelines for solar energy which environmental assessment practitioners and interested and affected parties could draw on. Hear more from Chris van Rooyen below:

Vultures and wind turbines do not co-exist comfortably. Vultures spend plenty of time on the wing, have large wingspans and are blind in the direction they fly in. As a result, vultures face a high risk of being struck by turbines erected within their range. The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains are home to the southernmost population of Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), which is Critically Endangered in southern Africa. The area is also important for regionally Endangered Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres). Together with our partners, we have successfully dissuaded wind farm development in the Maloti-Drakensberg region. Listen to Dr Sonja Krüger from the Bearded Vulture Recovery Programme below to learn more.

Renewable energy was new to South Africa, and there was little scientific literature from the continent to support decisions. In collaboration with the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, we published the first national-scale review of wind energy’s impact on birds in Africa in a peer-reviewed scientific journal (Perold et al. 2020). We also co-authored three scientific papers on solar energy facilities’ impacts on biodiversity, adding to the limited pool of research on the subject (Visser et al. 2019, Jeal et al. 2019, Jeal et al. 2019).

BirdLife South Africa convenes the Birds and Renewable Energy Specialist Group, a voluntary group of consulting bird specialists and other experts who share information and advice. This group has helped develop and review all renewable energy guidelines and resources produced by BirdLife South Africa. Hear more from Dr Odette Curtis-Scott from the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust, and Lourens Leewner from the Endangered Wildlife Trust, below:

Dr Odette Curtis-Scott

Lourens Leewner

Our annual Birds and Renewable Energy Forums bring together developers and operators of renewable energy infrastructure, environmental consultants, consulting bird specialists, researchers, NGOs and government officials. These meetings have been invaluable opportunities to showcase areas of excellence, and discuss challenges and opportunities to ensure renewable is developed without harming nature. Recordings of our last forum can be watched on BirdLife South Africa’s YouTube Channel.

Black Harrier is an Endangered, endemic species with a small population that cannot sustain even small increases in adult fatality rates. Early impact assessments did not adequately predict or mitigate impacts on this. Thanks to the implementation of our Best Practice Guidelines, most wind farms monitor and report their impacts to BirdLife South Africa. We now know Black Harriers must be afforded more protection from wind turbines. Learn more here.

BirdLife South Africa was a key stakeholder in the Strategic Environmental Assessment for wind and solar energy. We engaged in many debates to ensure that safeguards were in place to protect birds within Renewable Energy Development Zones. Hear more about this from Abulele Adams below:

We have helped save hundreds of threatened species each year. How do we know this? We compared observed collision rates for threatened raptor species in South Africa with the rates predicted by a global model (Thaxter et al. 2017). Some species occur in areas with limited wind and are unlikely to overlap with areas targeted by development. We applied a correction factor to account for that. We also increased observed fatality rates to account for carcasses not found in surveys. Still, reported fatality rates for threatened raptor species in South Africa are just a fraction of the predicted rates. We estimate that our work may have helped prevent 300 fatalities of threatened raptors in 2021 alone.